The Lay-over
by scuderia tifosi
Summary: Reboot. After attending the annual conference of geniuses with Squawkencluck in Tokyo, our intrepid heroes have a lay-over. Takes place after Planet Of The Toilets.


**All rights belong to their respective owners.**

As the Danger Car drove through the streets of the world's largest metropolis, DM and Penfold looked in awe at the fact that there are cities larger than London. The Mark IV then passed by a stadium, where a rock concert by an international rock-star was being held.

The rock-star gave a shout-out to his captive audience, "Hello, big city! Are you ready to rock?" In which the crowd chanted, "No! We are not quite ready! Give us five minutes!"

Later, the Danger Car was seen outside a convenience store. The three were standing in front of an entire row of vending machines. "Oooh... There's a machine for just about everything!" said the dimunitive hamster. DM wasn't particularly impressed. "Once saw a vending machine in Norway for-" He made quotation marks with his fingers. "-french fries."

Inside the store, the professor was showing the agent and his assistant some foodstuff. "Look at these," she said with enthusiasm, "fried garlic. Never mind that. I can make those. Ah, this, this is something you don't find everyday. Fried gingko nuts. Can't get any of these outside this continent." DM then noticed some transparent colas in a fridge. "Good grief! The colas over here has no color!"

After making payment, they went outside the store. The professor then noticed that the packaging of the bag of gingkos was resealable. "Oooh, they really thought of everything." commented Penfold.

DM was having some problems with his phone. "Can't seem to get online. It says here that there's no WAP connection."

The professor then replied, "They hardly use WAP over here."

The white mouse then noticed something. He looked around, with his iPatch switching between eyes everytime he turned his head. Almost everyone on the street were using... feature phones. "Good grief! It's like they never heard of smartphones."

Squawkencluck then managed to get the packet of fried gingkos open. "All right, guys. Now for the moment of truth." They each took one nut. "On three-"

"On thre-? Can't it be after three?"

She adjusted her eyewear. "All right, after three. One, two, three..." They all put the gingko in their mouths. It was crunchy and salty at first, but then the bitter taste soon got to them and they cringed. DM couldn't regurgitate because he was good at keeping things down. Penfold was too stunned to regurgitate while Squawkencluck didn't even seem to have a gag reflex.

Later, they were at a store selling local foodstuff. The professor then picked out some miso cakes. "It's like soup in a biscuit."

"Good grief! What will they think of next?"

Upon exiting, they encountered a bus-stop. DM read the bus schedule. "Good grief! The buses seem to end early around here."

"That's because it's usually sundown by 4:30." answered Squawkencluck.

"Crumbs!"

That night, they arrived at their hotel. Upon entering the carpark, they noticed all the performance cars in the various parking spaces. There was a blue Nissan Skyline GT-R34, a Mazda Miata, a Toyota MR2 Spyder, an Acura NSX, a red Ferrari F50 roadster, as well as an equally red 458 Spider, a blue Veyron, and a yellow Aventador. There was also a Ford Mustang, with an ECOTEC V6, a yellow Diablo SV roadster, an equally yellow Corvette Grand Sport convertible, and a Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86. The Danger Car pulled up alongside a yellow Lotus Esprit V8. After they got out, Penfold exclaimed, "Cor, Chief! The resemblance is uncanny!" The three then looked at the Lotus, then back again at the Mark IV. "Remember where we parked." said Squawkencluck. After checking in, they entered their rooms. It was two connected rooms, each with an attached bathroom. One was for two guests, with separate beds.

"Why are you even keeping these bitter nuts?" DM asked the professor.

"I want to do some research, and to see if it's possible to remove the bitter taste."

"Look at the size of these drinks!" exclaimed Penfold as he took out a small bottle from the small fridge. "It makes me feel like a giant." He then noticed something below the TV console. "Ooooh! Look at the size of this video game console! It's tiny!"

"Ah, you have just discovered the PC-Engine. It very nearly made it into Europe."

DM then raised his eyebrow. "What kind of a video game console name is that?"

"It uses the same operating system as NEC's line of PCs in the 80's."

She then rummaged under the TV console and found many other video game consoles and add-ons. She then took out the CD-ROM2 unit and attached both it and the main console to a cradle-like interface unit. She then produced a CD-ROM game, Hellfire S: The Another Story.

DM then picked up the label. "Good grief! Their English is atrocius!"

She then fired up the console and started the game. It had full-motion video, redbook audio, and most importantly, it had bright colors. The title screen then showed up. "I don't remember the game having music in the title sequence." commented the mouse.

"It didn't. This was added in just for this port."

The game started. Both guys were blown away by the arranged soundtrack and bright colors. Even the below-par sound effects didn't detract them from the bells and whistles. She then reached the boss of the first stage. The boss music started playing. It was the same as the title music. "I don't remember the game having music for the boss fights." said DM.

She then proceeded to the second stage. DM then realized there was something off with the stage music. "This sounded like the Jungle stage theme."

"They swapped the level music after the arranged soundtracks didn't sound appropriate for the stages they were originally meant for."

She then entered the third stage. DM was blown away by the arranged theme. For years, playing on the arcade original and the home port on Sega, he couldn't understand the timing of the stage music, but after hearing this rendition, everything just came together.

She then made it to stage five, and was approaching the gauntlet. The boss theme started playing. "I didn't know that the gauntlet was part of the boss battle."

"It wasn't," she said. "The boss theme just made it so."

After finishing the game, the staff roll credits then played. The white mouse commented, "I didn't know that there was music for the closing, let alone a credits scene."

They then dug out another console, a Sega Genesis (for some reason, the rest of the world marketed it as a Mega Drive.) DM then plugged in a cartridge, known in Japan as Tatsujin. "It sounded faster than I remembered."

They then attached the Sega-CD add-on. She produced a game, Night Striker. "What kind of a game is that?" DM asked.

"It has a flying car." and he was all ears.

After clearing the first stage, DM was given an in-game choice to decide which path to take, into the factory or over the canals. "Chief, pick the canals. The canals."

"And why is that?"

"There's not enough room to move around in the factory."

"Not a problem for me." and he steered left.

Later that night, Penfold heard some animal growling. The hamster, who was in his Giraffe Warrior onesies, quickly ducked under the sheets of DM's bed.

The following morning, DM and Penfold were stirring. They then opened their eyes and themselves on the same bed. They screamed and jumped back in fright.

"What are you doing on my bed?"

"I heard a bear out there."

At this time, Squawkencluck ran in the room. "There's an ocelot in the bathroom!"

After calling animal control, the three had breakfast. They checked out in the afternoon, and headed home.

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